Newly Unveiled Texas School ‘Reform’ Proposals In Step With Right-Wing Agenda
The conservative education package proposed this week 'is a grab-bag of failed ideas cribbed from the ALEC playbook,' says Diane Ravitch.
Following a national trend, Texas Senate leaders this week announced an ambitious and ideologically driven education-reform agenda, which critics say is aimed at undermining public schools and advancing privatization.
- Giving letter grades (A-F) to public school campuses each year based on their performance to put “pressure” on districts and parents to improve low performers.
- A stronger “parent empowerment” or “trigger law” that would allow parents to petition for new management at school districts that have been failing for two years, rather than five.
- Creating an “opportunity” or “achievement” school district, which could be run by a private entity, that would manage the state’s low-performing schools.
- Easing limits on full-time virtual schools and online courses.
- Tying teacher compensation to performance, rather than just years of service, and other changes to the evaluation system.
The provisions are included within six education-related bills Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican Sen. Larry Taylor, the head of the state Senate’s education committee, announced would be “fast-tracked” through the Senate, according to Texas Public Radio.
While the package does not include a controversial bill that would legalize school choice programs in Texas,the American-Statesman notes that at a press conference unveiling the proposals, Patrick “also promised to unveil a ‘school choice’ program later in the legislative session, saying the issue would be one of the upper chamber’s top priorities.”
The package garnered high praise from the wealthy Texans for Education Reform, an advocacy group accusedof wanting to “drain money from public schools for more privately operated charter schools and online virtual learning, which offer opportunities for more enrichment in the entrepreneurial community, not opportunities for enriching the learning opportunities of thousands of Texas school children.”
The deep-pocketed organization grew out of the influential Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a conservative, ALEC-linked business group responsible for laws that have effectively prevented consumers from seeking damages from corporations.
“The Taylor-Patrick agenda is a grab-bag of failed ideas cribbed from the ALEC playbook,” Diane Ravitchdeclared in an op-ed Wednesday. “None of them has been beneficial to students or successful anywhere.”
The Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA), affiliated with the National Education Association, the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, and the Association of Texas Professional Educators all came out against the package of bills.
“None of the proposals offered by Senator Taylor and the Lieutenant Governor would give teachers and students the time and resources they need to improve teaching and learning,” said TSTA president Noel Candelaria. “The Taylor-Patrick agenda fails to meet the needs of 5 million public school students whose schools have been inadequately funded by the very legislators who are eager to declare schools a failure based on standardized test scores. Educators want legislators to demonstrate a genuine commitment to strengthening neighborhood public schools instead of handing them over to outsiders who have no direct Newly Unveiled Texas School 'Reform' Proposals In Step With Right-Wing Agenda: